Monument
Tribute to the Missing
This memorial statue at Battery Park stands in loving remembrance of the vanished crew of the Tugboat Maria 120, who vanished on the night of July 13, 1977, while investigating what appeared to be a private aircraft crash on New York Harbor. It is an ever-present symbol to the families of the missing that they are not forgotten an a reminder to us all that.........we are not alone....
July 13, 1977…NYC was in the midst of a brutal heat wave, the city was facing severe financial crisis, and New Yorkers were feeling particularly on edge because of the recent “Son of Sam” murders.
The tugboat “Maria 120” cruised around New York Harbor that evening, on calm waters, seemingly a world away from the buzz of anxiety throughout the city streets, with her crew of six men.
Their shift would go along uneventfully until approximately 9:30pm when all five boroughs of the city lost power and fell into complete darkness. Emergency transmissions came over the boat’s radio reporting of the widespread chaos, crime, and looting that erupted.
As the single screw engine patrolled the waters between Liberty Island and Battery Park in pitch blackness, something even more alarming happened. The crew witnessed a bright streak of light through the night sky and what appeared to be a private aircraft crash into the harbor. They immediately radioed the Coast Guard a distress signal and informed them that they were going to try to tow the crashed vessel to shore.
Shortly thereafter, two Coast Guard boats were on site to aid in the recovery, but what they discovered was far more disturbing than could be imagined…the aircraft that was reported to have crashed into the harbor? Not a trace of it…and the entire crew of the tugboat “Maria 120” was gone…vanished…the boat remained, but not a soul onboard…Many believe that the “private aircraft” was actually a UFO…
In 1982, a monument was erected by Local 333 and the honorable Mayor Edward I. Koch in honor of the mysteriously missing crew of the tugboat “Maria 120” in Battery Park overlooking the waters of the last known whereabouts of these six men.
Harbor Mystery Cruise
A voyage you will not forget
- Explore the sites and sounds of New York harbor! Experience the maritime mysteries of New York Harbor!
- Mysteries galore! Listen to Captain Louie Garbone tell stories of alien abductions and shipwrecks from the disappearance of the Maria crew to the sunken Staten Island Ferry said to have been attacked by a giant octopus!
- Selfie package! Half price charge on all selfies/photos taken with your camera on weekdays!
- Sail the harbor and see the site of the vanished crew of Tugboat Maria!
- Free commemorative T-shirt with each cruise!
- Access to Liberty Island (bathing suits strongly suggested).
- Re-enactment cruises available on special nights. Put yourself in the rubbers of the Maria crew and come face to face with hostile invaders!
- Night Cruises available for couples! Take a romantic tug boat cruise around the harbor! Price includes dinner for two (meat loaf or hot dog), chips of your choice and "little green rose."
- Kids! Come meet and greet with Albert The Alien! Take a picture, get an autograph, but don't touch his probe!
Harbor Mystery Cruise Enterprises has partnered with the Tim Mills Memorial Foundation in the quest for the truth - 10% of all proceeds will be donated to the Tim Mills Memorial Fund.
Tickets can be purchased at Clinton Castle located in Battery Park.
Photo Gallery
